Graduate programs
Our graduate courses ground students in methods of literary study, diverse literary traditions, contemporary writing, and techniques of creative composition across genres.
Pursuing your graduate work in Montreal allows you to benefit from the city’s tremendous cultural resources and its vibrant community of students. Concordia's interdisciplinary culture offers opportunities to explore relationships between literature, media, and the arts.
Master of Arts in English
MA in Literature
Students take courses in literary studies and write a thesis on a topic of their choice. In course work you’ll be able to gain expertise in your specific field of study, while also learning new approaches to theoretical problems, methods of interpretation, and literary traditions.
Our faculty bring to their teaching and advising a wide range of interests in such fields as environmental humanities, postcolonial studies, feminist theory and criticism, Indigenous studies, gender/sexuality studies, Marxism and political economy, critical race theory, media studies, sound studies, interdisciplinary poetics, and comparative literature, while covering periods of literary production from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century.
MA in Creative Writing
The Creative Writing option within the MA in English provides professional training in the art and craft of writing with an advanced scholarly education in English literature. Like an MFA, our MA is centred on workshops which, combined with the creative thesis, comprise more than half of the program. Students also take literature courses in the company of students in the MA academic option and the PhD. Focusing on the interchange between creative activity and scholarship, our program helps to prepare students not only for a writing career but for a PhD in literature or creative writing and/or for CEGEP teaching.
Access to the highly sought Creative Writing option of the English MA is limited to candidates with a solid portfolio and proven writing skills.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in English Literature
Concordia’s PhD Program in English Literature combines theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches to literary studies with historical grounding in the conceptualization, formation, and dissemination of literature.
Through courses modeling different approaches to research, textual analysis, and theoretical inquiry across a range of periods and media, students deepen their understanding of methods and texts within and beyond their field of specialization. Through directed reading in preparation for field exams, the planning and composition of a thesis prospectus, and the writing of a doctoral thesis, candidates acquire expertise in their chosen area of research and contribute to knowledge of their field.
Our program offers opportunities for collaborative and experimental work through a number of Research initiatives, seeking to bring together historical and contemporary perspectives on literature, media, and cultural study.
